Manchester Airport brothers re-trial ends after jury fail to succeed in verdict
Two brothers accused of assaulting armed police officer PC Zachary Marsden at Manchester Airport had the jury discharged after they could not agree on any verdicts following nearly 20 hours of deliberation
The retrial of brothers Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammad Amaad has ended (Image: 2025 Getty Images)
The jury in the re-trial of two brothers accused of attacking an armed police officer at Manchester Airport has been dismissed after failing to reach verdicts.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, were both standing trial charged with assaulting PC Zachary Marsden. Both men pleaded not guilty to the single charge and maintained they were acting in self-defence.
Mr Amaaz had already been found guilty of attacking two police officers and a member of the public during the same incident, the court was told. Mr Amaaz and Mr Amaad faced accusations of assaulting PC Marsden, causing him actual bodily harm.
On Wednesday (May 20), jurors announced they were unable to agree on any verdicts regarding either defendant following approximately 19 hours and 48 minutes of deliberations, despite being permitted to deliver majority verdicts.
The prosecution requested time to review their options and determine whether to pursue a further re-trial, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Judge Flewitt addressed the jurors: “You are, as I’m sure you’re aware, not the first jury to consider the case. You are not the first jury to fail to reach a verdict in relation to this particular count. I don’t want you to feel in any way you have failed.
“The prosecution will now consider their position and decide whether they want to ask me to have a further trial, which will be unusual but not unknown.”
The trial at Liverpool Crown Court was told the siblings, both from Tarnside Close, Rochdale, had previously gone to the airport to collect their mother.
Mr Amaaz attacked a man called Abdulkareem Ismaeil in a Starbucks branch at the airport, following his mother’s ‘some form of disagreement’ with Mr Ismaeil during a flight returning to the UK from Pakistan via Qatar. Mr Amaaz has maintained his mother was racially abused by Mr Ismaeil during the flight.
Mr Amaaz then attacked two police officers at a pay station in terminal two, after they were summoned following the incident on July 23, 2024.
During a previous trial last year, Mr Amaaz was found guilty of attacking Mr Ismaeil in Starbucks, and of assaulting two female police officers, PC Ellie Cook and PC Lydia Ward. Unarmed officer PC Ward was left weeping after breaking her nose and bleeding ‘profusely’.
PC Cook sustained ‘relatively minor injuries’. PC Marsden was reported to have developed ‘post-concussion syndrome’, which allegedly included a ‘severe headache for three days’, and bouts of ‘dizziness’ and ‘forgetfulness,’ and difficulties speaking as well as bruising and swelling.
During the altercation, PC Marsden kicked Mr Amaaz in the face and brought his foot down onto his head in a ‘stamping motion’, the court was told.
In his defence, Mr Amaaz testified that he feared he could end up ‘dead’ when he was ‘grabbed’ by PC Marsden during the incident. “I was thinking ‘why is this guy using so much force?’,” he said. “The way he was grabbing my neck, I thought ‘this guy forces me down to the ground he is going to beat me, he’s going to beat me to the point I can’t breathe and I am dead’.”
Mr Amaad denied behaving ‘offensively’ towards PC Marsden and stated he felt under attack. Mr Amaad explained that upon seeing PC Marsden’s gun, he raised his arms and placed his hands on his head.
“I just thought ‘I don’t want to die today, I don’t want to get shot’,” Mr Amaad told the court.
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